With as close as she is to the railing, what will keep her protected from inaccurate people? Unless they plan on putting high glass panels around the 2nd level, I can see it now, kids throwing gum over the ledge, etc which would land on her wings. Do they plan on having high glass barriers around Atlantis to keep her shielded from society as a whole?

Also, do they still plan to have a giant screen on the back wall showing video of the earth rotating behind her to give the feel of orbit?

Thanks for the answer, just seems with her OMS Pods so close to the edge of the platform and her wings just under it, I could see kids throwing things since she is literally it seems within arms reach ya know?

The same could be said for any number of other spacecraft displays at Kennedy and just about every other museum around the world, yet you don't see gum stuck to the Apollo command modules or pennies lying on the wings of the Wright Flyer or any other such problems. That's why there are docents and guards and for that matter, parents.

Wright Flyer is out of reach, Columbia is inside a plastic bubble. The NASM had to remove their Jenny from display in 2009 because of damage from people using it for target practice. It is now back on display at Udvar-Hazy. http://blog.nasm.si.edu/aviation/saving-jenny/

I used to volunteer at an aviation museum where all the aircraft could (and did) fly. Despite all the signs, docents, mechanics etc, you'd be surprised at the crap we'd find in the airplanes, jammed up inside wheel wheels, engine intakes/exhausts, etc., and what people (not just kids, but adults too) would do to them.

« Last Edit: 03/07/2013 03:26 AM by JAFO »

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Anyone can do the job when things are going right. In this business we play for keeps.— Ernest K. Gann

I think you mean Enterprise. Columbia sadly is a collection of debris housed inside the VAB.

He means Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia. It is inside a plastic shell at the NASM entrance in DC. To the right is John Glenn's Mercury capsule and to the left is Ed White's Gemini. All are in protective plastic.

KSC-2013-1872 (03/19/2013) --- CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex has added the name "Atlantis" and American flag to the exterior of the "Space Shuttle Atlantis" exhibit scheduled to open June 29, 2013. Last November, the space shuttle Atlantis made its historic final journey to its new home, traveling 10 miles from the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building to the spaceport's visitor complex. The new $100 million Atlantis facility will be a 90,000-square-foot, interactive exhibit that tells the story of the 30-year Space Shuttle Program and highlights the future of space exploration. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

KSC-2013-1872 (03/19/2013) --- CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex has added the name "Atlantis" and American flag to the exterior of the "Space Shuttle Atlantis" exhibit scheduled to open June 29, 2013. Last November, the space shuttle Atlantis made its historic final journey to its new home, traveling 10 miles from the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building to the spaceport's visitor complex. The new $100 million Atlantis facility will be a 90,000-square-foot, interactive exhibit that tells the story of the 30-year Space Shuttle Program and highlights the future of space exploration. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

Thanks for the answer, just seems with her OMS Pods so close to the edge of the platform and her wings just under it, I could see kids throwing things since she is literally it seems within arms reach ya know?

If you think Atlantis is vulnerable, look at Endeavour inside her Pavilion. When I visited the California Science Center last November, I can recall many times where kids were told "not to jump and try to touch" the shuttle. Hopefully this won't be the case when the orbiter is placed vertically in her new exhibit years from now

I was at the Udvar Hazy Center on Friday and noticed some large balls of something on Discovery's wings. It was either GIANT dust bunnies or chewing gum. She could definitely use a good dusting once in a while.

That building looks nice, but I won't ever step in there. Even now those ships should be flying and working instead they are as worthless as the Jupiter booster in the outside missile garden, a monument to the stupidity of the US Government (as if we needed another one).